Tuesday, March 29, 2011

First-grader Rosalie Tang set $50 on a table in the Francis Scott Key Elementary cafeteria Wednesday and smiled.

The 6-year-old knew the money she brought in would buy shelter and food for Japanese strangers 5,000 miles away - and for each dollar donated, a paper origami crane would hang in the entryway of her San Francisco school.

Behind her, other students lined up to push their handfuls of cash and coins across the table, and the number of origami cranes grew.

While the devastation in Japan might be hard for a first-grader to comprehend, Rosalie knew enough to want to help.

"They had a tsunami, and they didn't have any houses because of the tsunami, and then they didn't have any more food," she said, barely pausing for a breath. "And they don't have any more cars, and then they have to go away from Japan, because the people might be sick there. And money will help them get food and cars back and houses."